HomeWord - December 6, 2012

...for “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? —Romans 10:13-14

Some years ago, my (then) teenage daughter was on her way to go sledding with friends on a Sunday afternoon. Before she left, I heard her in the garage rummaging around. Silence. Then a call, “Mom, I need help!” There she was on the stepladder, reaching as high as she could into the rafters trying to get her sled down…but to no avail.

“I’m trying to get the sled down, but I can’t reach it. Will you help me?” Hallelujah... In those years, it was not often that I got that kind of request from my daughter!

“Here, hop off; I’ll do it for you.” I grinned as I easily did for her what she couldn’t do for herself, sending her on her way with sled in tow!

What a precious picture God gave me that day of the last part of His salvation process: Someone obeys Him and tells the Good News of salvation to another; that person hears the very words of God through the speaker and believes…and then, that person CALLS on the name of the Lord. Scripture makes it clear that just intellectually agreeing Jesus is the Savior isn’t enough -- “even the demons believe...” Certainly, my daughter could have stood all day on that stepladder believing that I was tall enough to help her. But it was only when she ACTED on what she knew to be true, calling out for my help, that she received what she needed, what she couldn’t do on her own.

Real life begins with a personal dependence on Jesus, with calling out to Him to give us what we can never attain ourselves: a right relationship with the God of the Universe through faith in what He did for us on the Cross.

GOING DEEPER:

1. Have you called out to Christ for salvation, acting on what you know to be true about Him? If not, what is preventing you from doing so today?